NEED HELP... want to setup an aggresive tank, but not sure on what to put in it?

gosupaintballe

gosupaintballe

Member
First off i am BRAND NEW to this and I know about nothing. I have been reading a lot of posts on this site and bought "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" book to read up on. But i am thinking about buying a 90 gallon Aquarium and setting it up for aggressive fish. I really like the Lion fish, would that work ok in a 90 and what other fish / things would work well in a 90 gallon? Also, i've seen some stuff on snails, shrimp, (clean up crew) stuff, but can you use any of that stuff in a tank with lion's and other aggresive type fish? ? I'll probably put some live rock in it and would live sand work better or should i just go with the crush coral rock stuff? All and any advice is welcome and greatly appreciated! Thanks
 
thoroughbred

thoroughbred

Member
I'll address the less controversial things first:
Something like 75-90 lbs of live rock would be good for your 90 gal and live sand would be great too. If you don't want to drop a huge pile of money on sand and rocks you could get argonite which would turn into live sand eventually. And get your rock off the net IMO, where I live its super expensive so getting on the net saved me a bundle. Now the the clean up crew, you could have starfish and sea urchins and large hermits. If there big enough your lion is less likely to eat them.
Now for the fun stuff:
IMO a 90 gal in more than enough for a volitan lionfish, 90 gals is even enough for 2 assuming you have a good skimmer and filtration system. There are plenty of people that would disagree with me but thats just what i think, Robert Fenner seems to think the same thing too but its all a matter of opinion.
Keep reading and talking to people and you'll end up with and awesome system.
 
sharkboy13

sharkboy13

Active Member
eels will work, just not tessy or many of the larger eels, no tangs, some puffers will work, lots of other fish will work but may get eaten
 
babyb

babyb

Active Member
lions and puffers will not work together one or the other, the puffer will destroy the lion
 
S

shark bait

Guest
Originally Posted by BabyB
lions and puffers will not work together one or the other, the puffer will destroy the lion
in a 90 gal for sure. no puffer.
you could do some yellow tangs to give some motion to the tank. I know you will want active fish. I realy like the coarl hind but you may need to go with a hamlet because of the size. They are a very over looked fish and a golden is a great fish. you might think about a snow flake eel they hide alot but are easy to keep and are fun to watch eat. once the tank is about 6-8 month old and you have the live rock going well a purple tang, only one tang in the tank if you get it is a awsome fish.
lets see, that should give you some ideas of fish. You will want to stay away from any fish that will not grow to be larger than the lion. some of the small lions are where i would tell you to get, it will make things much better for you in the long run.
I use only live rock and sand in all my tanks and i stay away from crushed coral for may reasons, mainly because I have sharks from time to time.
good luck and use a sump and a good skimmer with this set up.
 
gosupaintballe

gosupaintballe

Member
Should i go with live sand or crushed coral in an aggresive fish tank? What are the advantages and disadvantages between the live sand and crushed coral?
 
geridoc

geridoc

Well-Known Member
really looking for a list of advantages and disadvantages between the live sand and crushed coral
Crushed Coral: no definite advantages, requires constant cleaning, can become an outstanding generator of nitrates (speaking from experience here).
Live Sand: set it and forget it. No maintenance, attractive, may lower nitrates if there are anaerobic zones in sand bed. Can house wrasses that bury in the substrate (some very neat fish in this group for an aggressive tank, for example).
 
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